Tuesday 23 December 2014

November & December 2014 Chatterbook sessions at Egham Library

In our December 2014 Chatterbooks session we read:
The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson.

 
''High on a Himalayan Mountain, a young explorer is a sleep in her tent. At midnight she is snatched by a gigantic, hairy monster - and never seen again.
Agatha Farlingham has been kidnapped by a yeti. But she soon discovers that he is a brave and noble beast. His family is in danger - and he needs her help'' by Eva Ibbotson.
 




Ten children read & reviewed The Abominables.
6 Thumbs up.
3 Maybe.
1 Thumbs down.
 
Reviews on the book:


'' I enjoyed this book as it has a twist and unusual view of yeti's, it is a joyful and lovely book'' By M.
 
'' I would give this book 8/10, it was very good because the yeti's went on an amazing journey throughout the book''.
 
''It was a creative and fun book, I felt it could have been a bit happier'' by SR.
 
 
In the session we also completed crosswords and a word searches on the book.
 
As it was the last session before Christmas, our craft this week was to make a Christmas peg person.
 
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In the November 2014 Chatterbooks session we read
 Monkey and Me by David Gilman.
 
 
''Nine-year-old Beanie’s coping with more than most kids his age, including treatment
for leukaemia. But Beanie’s not bothered about that, he just wants to be part of his
big brother’s gang of friends. To show he’s got what it takes, Beanie braves a scary
deserted house where he finds a young chimpanzee. But where did Malcolm the
chimp come from, how does he know sign language and who are the sinister men
pursuing him?'' by David Gilman.
 

Ten children read & reviewed Monkey and Me.
7 Thumbs up.
2 Maybe.
1 Thumbs down.
 
Reviews on the book:
''Very interesting, fun adventure story with a scary ending''
 
''A very entertaining story but there could have been more illustrations''.
 
In the session we enjoyed learning about the different methods of non-verbal Communication, and learnt a few words in semaphore.
 
We used the computers in Egham Library to complete a quiz on facts about Monkeys, and used the Children's online Reference shelf through the Surrey Libraries website to help us answer the questions.

 

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Caterham Chatterbooks #3

Caterham Chatterbooks were lucky enough to be chosen as Star Reviewers for the Reading Agency, meaning we will be reviewing 2 as yet unpublished books.



The first of these was 'Diamonds and Daggers' by Elen Caldecott, and is the first in the Marsh Road Mysteries series. It is a story about a stolen necklace and a group of friends who team up to solve the case and prove the innocence of Piotr's father before they are forced to move back to Poland.

All the members of Caterham Chatterbooks really enjoyed the story and the ratings were all 8-10 out of 10! They described it as 'engaging' and 'interesting', thought the book was best for 8-10 year olds, and would recommend it to fans of mystery and detective stories.

As our activity for this book, we made our own newspaper front covers as the mystery of the stolen necklace hit the headlines in the book. Have a look at the stories our group came up with - there are several libellious accusations against Santa Claus...







Next month we will be reviewing 'The 13-Story Treehouse' by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton!

Friday 12 December 2014

Caterham Chatterbooks #2

A belated update on our November meeting!



We each read a book from the 'Adventure Island' series by Helen Moss. Reviews were positive, all of the members liked the characters and the mystery plots, and would read more of the series.

As our craft, we all designed our own adventure islands. Ideas got very outrageous! They included wacky ways to travel to the island, strange places to live, and crazy creatures lurking on land and in the sea. Here is the group leaders drawing:


But she was put to shame by all the members! Here is one example:
 
 
 
Caterham Chatterbooks is lucky enough to be reviewing two unpublished books for the Reading Agency as our December and January meetings so look out for those posts!